Varsity awaits UGC guidelines on SET

University Grants Commission recently announced a change in the examination pattern of the National Eligibility Test .

The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently announced a change in the examination pattern of the National Eligibility Test (NET). Till last year,the first two papers of the total three were objective. For the test to be held in June,the subjective third paper has been replaced by another objective paper,making all three papers objective. However,while the guidelines for the Maharashtra State Eligibility Test (SET) are normally the same as for NET,the University of Pune (UoP),which conducts the exam in the state,has not received any intimation from the UGC yet.

As per the guidelines,the third paper had been revised into two essay questions,three analytical or evaluation questions,nine definitional or short answer questions and five text-based questions. However,now it will comprise 75 questions and the duration will be two-and-a-half hours.

The UGC had given the responsibility of conducting SETs to the states because the number of candidates who are required to be qualified for being appointed as lecturers,under the new pay scales,is fairly large. Thus,UGC has authorised the state governments or the state agencies on behalf of the state governments to conduct the SET for lectureship,provided,the SET is duly accredited by the UGC. In accordance with the UGC guidelines,the state government,higher and technical education and employment department had nominated UoP as the state agency for conducting the test.

While UGC officials maintain that the states will have to follow the same guidelines,the UoP is still not clear about the pattern for the SET exams. UGC has put up the information about pattern change for NET on their website. However,we have not been given any instruction. The results for the previous SET exams are expected in May. By June,we hope to get a clearer picture, said Rajendra Raherkar,administration officer,SET,UoP. The previous SET exam was held in November last year.

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